Page Seventeen

Today marks the first day of the Emerging Writers’ Festival in Melbourne. For anyone with a free night, there’s still a chance to get in for tonight’s opening gala at Fed Square. And there’s plenty on in the days to follow; http://www.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/events/ is the place to go.

pageseventeen will be at the Page Parlour market on Sunday, June 5. Amble in to the Fed Square Atrium anytime between 12-5 and you won’t be disappointed.

Submissions are rolling in, but I still have spare time, which will simply not do. There’s just over a month left before the submission window for 2011 closes, so the home stretch for anyone putting the finishing touches on their mini magnum opus is fast approaching.

Don’t forget we also have a non-fiction section this year – anyone with a piece or pitch relating to the theme, Craft of Writing, email it though to submit@pageseventeen.com.au. It can be a feature piece (relating to, say, a workshop in the EWF, hint hint), an interview with an established writer, an opinion piece on writing or the mechanics of writing, or one of a dozen other perspectives I probably couldn’t even begin to speculate on.

Also tell your photo-oriented buddies (if you aren’t one yourself) about our cover competition; a click of a camera could earn $100 and determine the front cover of Issue 09 of pageseventeen. Not too shabby.

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As a quick little plug, I will be at Book Street (in the arcade at 521 Toorak Rd, Toorak) on Thursday June 9. The Australian Literature Review (the website can be found here) is launching its newest anthology, Basics of Life, including a panel of featured writers (one of which is yours truly). I’ll be alongside up-and-comer Belinda Dorio and the always-charming George Ivanoff, talking about whatever it is writers talk about.

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I made a plug on Facebook, but I’ll follow up here; the latest poetry collection from our editor, Ashley Capes, has been out for the entirety of 2011 and he has been pretty quiet about it. You’ll find a link to his blog on the right-hand-side of this page as a way to tell him off for this, and find Orion Tips the Saucepan here.

Hello to all fans of page seventeen, and to all emerging writers looking for an opportunity to see their name in print. My name is Beau Hillier, and I’ll be taking over page seventeen from Tiggy Johnson.

Tiggy, as founder and editor, was the heart and soul of page seventeen, so I appreciate that for some it’s going to feel a little like a culture-shock to see my name instead when it comes to Issue 9 at the latter end of the year.

What’s important to me right now is a smooth transition, and to reassure readers and contributors that page seventeen is still page seventeen, and will continue to be so. Its purpose, its reason for existence, remains the same: to promote new writers and to provide a journal dedicated to emerging writers.

I want to inject some new ideas into page seventeen, and there will be announcements forthcoming over the next few weeks. Rest assured, however, that the fundamentals – the competitions, the submission window and the style of content – will not go through any kind of radical shift.

I’m excited to be here, and I’m looking forward to making Issue 9 a real gem of a read. Watch this space; you won’t be disappointed.

The last news I get to share is who will be taking care of page seventeen from now on.

I know you’ve been desperate to find out, and I’m pleased to be able to let you know that Busybird Publishing & Design, the people behind Melbourne-based short story magazine, [untitled], will be taking over. The new page seventeen editor is Beau Hillier, who you can expect to hear from in this space soon.

Meanwhile, there may be a few technical issues as we actually make the change-over, so please be patient. For instance, the website may disappear for a few days or so, but there’s no need to worry, as things will be in order by the time submissions open.

Lastly, a final thanks to everyone who’s helped make page seventeen what it is, including Busybird, and I hope you’ll welcome the new guys in with open arms. I certainly have!